


My one reason to keep fighting.

by CristalDePhoenix



Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Action, Family Fluff, Gen, Mention of blood, Mild Gore, Pre-Mass Effect 1, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-08
Updated: 2019-03-08
Packaged: 2019-11-13 20:22:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18038342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CristalDePhoenix/pseuds/CristalDePhoenix
Summary: Just another week in the life of Adrien Victus.





	My one reason to keep fighting.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Marie_Fanwriter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marie_Fanwriter/gifts).



> This treat is for one of my all-time favorite writes. Hope you enjoy!
> 
> Thank you BardofHeartDive For being an awesome Beta.

The smell of smoke and spent heatsinks filled Adrien Victus’ nasal passages to the point they burned, his helmet shattered from a successfully blocked bullet to the head, discarded so he could see properly again. Panting and crouched behind cover, he took a moment of reprieve to catch his breath. These pirates were better armed and more numerous than what intel had informed them. As a result, only a small unit was sent in to deal with the situation. It was supposed to be a quick infiltration, plant some explosives, get out and blow the base sky high. Now, the block of a batarian with the portable minigun kept his unit running for new cover as the batarian destroyed it, while the cowards hide behind a barrier. Every time they ran, the rest of the pirates took their potshots at them.

Luckily, they were bad shots. Being outnumbered and outgunned was their biggest problem.

“Captain! What are your orders? We can't keep dodging that thing forever.” Lieutenant Gladius yelled from her cover over the din of gunfire. The brown plated female with yellow collony markings was a steady presence by his side, ready to lead the smaller units and follow his orders to the letter no matter how strange they were at times. His reputation meant not many officers were willing to follow him for his unconventional tactics, saying it will impact their reputations and future career prospects, while the troops flocked to him for his high survival ratio in missions. 

“We need to take out their shield generator! With that thing up we can't take out that gun! Get -” a chunk of his cover blew into tiny shrapnel bits, cutting small lines into his faceplates, a soft curse coming from him at the situation. He was out of time to rest, this pile of ruined wall was just about done. He tucked in and rolled out of his cover, jumping up and sprinting to the next closest cover, his shields getting hammered the moment he was upright and a clear target. 

Landing hard with his back against the new pile of rubble, gasping, he tried to continue into the comm while his shields recharged. “Vasues, Stroma, Servius, Atticus! Keep their attention! Rotate out who fires. But watch your shields! Gladius, with me!” A chorus of Yessir’s was heard, and they started to retaliate. Once he was sure the pirates were focused on the rest of his 6 turian squad, he and his lieutenant snuck back and around, closer to where the generator was being heavily guarded. 

Safe and unnoticed by the buffoons pinning down his squad, he stored his assault rifle and pulled out his sniper rifle. He didn't often use it, but was a decent shot at least. In quick succession, he removed the two guards from their flanking position without being noticed by the main group. “Lieutenant, Overload that generator.” 

“It will only give you a few seconds, sir.” Came her concerned reply, but she readied the tech attack none the less.

“That's all I need.” he reassured her, taking careful aim through the scope. “Tempest squad, ready to take out as many pirates as you can while their shield is down. Ready?”

With all soldiers reporting the affirmative, he nodded to Gladius and she shot out her Overload. The generator sputtered and sparked before going out in a puff of smoke, the barrier falling a second later. It must have been in worse shape than it looked if it completely died with one overload. Either that or Gladius overpowered that Overload somehow. Regardless, he was grateful things were going their way for once. Before the pirates figured out what just happened and from where, Victus took the single, high-powered shot. Shields fizzled and brain matter splattered across the adjacent asari’s face, the rockets they were firing at his men also coming to a halt. Surprise, disgust and horror written all over their face. The minigun-wielding brute was down, and a second later, they joined him in a similar fashion. Now his squad had a fighting chance.

The moment of confusion and disorientation was not wasted by his men either. When the enemy stopped firing and had no big shield left to hide behind, they returned fire and took out the more exposed pirates with well aimed shots. The difference in training now showed, as their enemy was mowed down one by one while his men’s shields hardly took any damage before they ducked down, rotating their fire so there was always someone pinning the enemy. 

Soon it was just down to the few smart pirates and his men. They still had another rocket wielding asari and their barrier to deal with, though. But now that the bulk of their forces were taken care of, the odds were in his squad’s favour. His troops kept up their barrage of alternating bullets, allowing him the two shots in rapid succession needed to take out the asari. His shields flickered and died almost instantly afterwards as first a stream of bullets and then a warp hit him from the side, a blood-curdling scream following suit. He must have hit a nerve with that last shot.

Victus slumped down behind cover, clutching his side and breathing heavily. That smart, big time. He activated the medigel dispenser on his omnitool and the pain killing effects kicked in a second later. He’d need to see a medic when this was over. Warps did nasty things to your insides and you weren’t always sure from just an external observation how bad it was. While being a little distracted with tending to his immediate wounds, he had missed the battlefield going silent. Now though, as he tried to tune back in, there was nothing.

Taking his assault rifle and doing a sweep of the field, he realised the fight was over, the panic that had started in his chest subsiding. The asari had charged his cover in a blind rage it seemed, allowing his men to mow them down. The last 3 pirates must have fallen quickly after that. Survey of surroundings complete, his lieutenant called in the all clear.

“Search the base, we split up 3 and 3. I don’t want any more surprises. Get whatever intel you can off their computers, and plant the bombs.” His team acknowledge into the comms from their positions, splitting up in predetermined units. Gladius taking Stroma and Vasues to look for a computer terminal, while he took the remainder to clear the base and plant the bombs.

Like clockwork, they executed their orders, even if the element of stealth was no longer of concern. They found two more holdouts hiding in the base. One was a batarian cook, while the other was the krogan mechanic. The cook surrendered with a spatula in the air, complaining ‘They don’t pay me enough for this shit,’ while the korgan gave Stroma and himself a good bash before he fell, using a giant wrench as a club still hurt plenty. Needless to say he was glad when that base went up in flames several minutes later, just before their shuttle landed.

“Captain, are you alright?” Ah Gladius. Always perceptive to the condition of others. He was hoping she wouldn’t notice until he could sneak into his cabin and deal with it himself. No such luck it seemed.

“I’ll be fine lieutenant. Nothing the medical officer can’t handle after the debrief.” He tried to play it off. He had a system. A routine he followed after every mission, and was loath to break it to go to the medbay first. Get the paperwork done, then he would consider it. Besides, it wasn’t that bad. Luckily Gladius knew him well enough to just nod for now. She would check up on him, but later at least.

~30min later~

“You are lucky that warp didn’t turn your gizzard into louza soup, Captain! And then you have a concussion and some minor scrapes from shrapnel to boot. Through your faceplate! And you thought this wasn’t severe enough to come to my medbay straight away?” Admonished the chief medical officer Cyprian. The old bag of white plates and bones had probably been around since Trebia began to shine, and about as pleasant as the weather on Taetrus; but Victus would have no other on this ship. He was efficient at what he did and didn’t try to pamper his patients. At the same time, he cared for each patient and would go to any length to save a life.

“It was not life threatening, doctor. I am here now.” The doctor scoffed at him with irritated subvocals for his answer, to which he needed to fight down the amusement in his own expression and subvocals. Purple marked, aged and cracked mandibles pulled tight to white faceplates. “Strip and sit,” came the grumpy order, to which he complied worlessly. Regardless of his tardiness, the ailments were dealt with without further ado, and he is discharged with strict orders to rest up. Not a problem, since they were heading back to Hierarchy space for some much needed shore leave.

 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Daaaadddddy!!” Could be heard halfway across the base as the small, light grey turian ran up to him, nearly taking his legs out from under him in the process. Happy chirps flooded his senses. The tyke could already run so well and he was barely 3 years old. And strong, clambering up his legs and spurs to be in his arms before he could even bend down to pick him up. Good thing though, since his bag was still over his shoulder.

“Heeyy Scout!” His own happy rumble joined the chirps coming from his son. They briefly touched fringes in greeting, before he pulled him away enough to take a good look at him. “Look at how much you’ve grown! What is your aunt Aurelia feeding you?” he joked, causing a laugh and giggle to come from the little boy in his arms.

“No dad! I just grow fast! Eat normal food, right aunty?” He looked off to the side to where said aunt was approaching with a chuckle, his two nephews in tow.

“He’s right Adrien. I feed him the same as my boys, but he eats a lot for his size. I think he hit a growth spurt.” The calm tones of his bonded-sister flowed like a spring over pebbles. Her pale grey plates and tawny hide shined in Trebia’s rays. He tilted his mandibles in a lopsided smile at her, the other being not so gently pulled by his toddler.

“Must be, I’ve only been gone a month and he’s gotten huge.” He said the last word while tossing his son into the air, elisiting giggles and chirps from said fledgling. The adults rumbled in amusement as well.

“Come. I have lunch waiting for us at the house. I’m sure you would like something home cooked and not from a ration pack.” A sly smile spread on her mandibles, to which he just chuckled.

“Spirits, yes. Fresh food sounds great right now. Com’on Scout, let’s head home.”

“Yaaaayyyyy! Daddy’s back home!” Everyone laughed at that as the boy hugged his father, not a care in the world to what others might think of him.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

~Next morning~

“Daddy, daddy, daddy! Daaaaaddd! Get up, get up, get up! You promised!”

The nagging and eventual clambering up onto him of his son woke him. For once when he didn’t need to wake to an alarm clock, the fledgling woke him an hour before even that time. Reluctantly, he grumbled his waking and sat up, making the little body shift to his legs, grey-golden eyes staring up at him expectantly with a little stuffed varren in his small talons.

“You promised dad.” He sounded sad, like Adrien already forgot. He almost had if his bonded-sister didn’t remind him last night. Placing a gentle hand on his slowly growing fringe, he smiled down at his boy, still in his sleeping clothes.

“I didn’t forget, son. But don’t you think 4am is a bit too early to go to the zoo?” His tone was gentle and comforting.

“Zoo not open yet?” his subvocals were disappointed and mournful, eyes big and staring up at his father.

“No son, they only open at 9am. That’s still 5 whole hours too early.” He flourished his talons in the air to emphasize the large amount of time still to pass, before holding up both hands, one talon tucked back to his palm to illustrate the number.”

“Really? That many?”

“Yes son. That many. Why don’t you go back to sleep? It makes the hours pass a lot faster.” Adrien was hoping beyond hope that Tarquin would go back to sleep for at least a little while. His side still ached from the warp and he had a light headache from the concussion. Modern medicine was wonderful, but could still only do so much. Not that he would tell Tarquin that. He was not going to spoil such a special day with his son just so he could lay in bed a bit longer. Besides, he’d be bored of bed rest before lunch came around.

“Can’t sleep anymore. Want to go noooowww.” The plaintive subtones were almost comical, if not for the time in the morning.

“Let me tell you what. You crawl into the blankets here with me, and I’ll read you a story.” He lifted the thick brown blanket up and the little tyke spread his mandibles in a broad smile, clearly delighted at the prospect.

“Yaaayyy! Story!” He pounced forward and crawled under the blankets head first, turned around and popped his head out again, hugging his stuffed varren, resting his little head on Adrien’s cowl, snuggling into his father's warmth and comforting rumble.

The two males got comfortable, before Adrien pulled up his omnitool and searched for an appropriate story. His bondmate, Magrim, used to do this for Tarquin when he couldn’t sleep and it always worked. The memory was bittersweet, and still pretty recent, but he did not want to ruin the mood for his son right now. Reigning in his emotions, he settled on a popular story from his youth.

“Aha. How about The Hero Scout That Won The Unification Wars?” He smiled down at the expectant eyes that just barely popped out of the blankets.

“Yay! New story!”

Adrien cleared his throat dramatically, then started to read. “Many solar orbits ago, our people were divided by clans…..”

After maybe just the first chapter, Tarquin was fast asleep, and Adrien yawned as well. Many a time he had thought of ending his active military service and take a posting planetside so he could spend more time with his only son, but then he reminds himself that that was exactly why he was still fighting. To keep other families from having to survive with just one parent. Protect his people, and Citadel space, from dangers such as pirates, slavers and mercenaries. Not just the expectation of his family name. Carefully, he turned off his omitool, surrounding them both in wonderful darkness, and then he too joined his son in the land of peaceful slumber.


End file.
